So about two weeks ago I take my car into the Larry Miller here in Boise for an oil change. It has been a busy couple of weeks and I have been separated from my car and have only been able to drive it once since the oil change. Yes, I know what you are thinking - TWO WEEKS with out driving your WRX - are you nuts? No I just haven't been around to drive it, that's all. So I get home, wanting nothing more than to take my car up HW55 along the Payette river to enjoy the twisties, but the large puddle of oil under my car makes me a little uneasy about jumping in and going for a nice drive. So I slide under the car - the oil filter is about ready to fall off. Ok, maybe not fall off, but I have to give it a full turn before I can feel any friction from the gasket. I check the oil level; I'm a full quart down! Normally I wouldn't ever take my car to a mechanic/dealership, I would do it myself, but I'm thinking "oh, new car, I'll take it to the dealership." Wow, that was a mistake! I guess this is just one more horror story. However, for everyone who would normally be their own mechanic, but for some reason is thinking differently, think again about what you are going to do. You are going to put your baby in the hands of a stranger that doesn't really give two hoots about your car, they are just trying to making a buck! Why is that no one cares about the work they do anymore?

Who knows... As Bob Dylan would say, "The times, they are a changin." At least they didn't try and tell you that something else was broken.

My little side rant... Everytime I've taken a car into Jiffy Lube, they tell my I have oil leaks and crap like that. Then they try to charge you a couple bucks to top off your coolant over flow. What the hell is that? I could buy a gallon of antifreeze for that price, and still have a lot left over. And then one time, they told me my air filter needed changing (and it did) so I told them to do it. When I went to pay, they went over what they did, and they said it's recommended that you change your air filter. They didn't put a charge on the bill for it so I didn't mention anything (just in case they forgot to add it on there). But what's with these places? They ask you if you want them to do something, you say yes, then they don't do it.

-Matt

It could be worse.

My good friend takes his 00 Outback up to the best Subaru dealer around (in Beaverton, Oregon) and has them check the rear window defroster. While they are at it, he has them do an oil change. The car has about 15K miles on it.

As he pulls out he notices a new little red light. It looks like an oil can. He decided to NOT pull out onto the main road, and drives back to the service department. The service advisor has him shut off the engine, and pop the hood. You guessed it - no oil. They forgot to refill it!!

So now he's wondering if this will cause a problem later. The car seems fine, and he only drove about 2 blocks - and never got above 20 mph.

He's trying to get them to at least sign something indicating this happened so if there's a lubrication problem in the future they have it noted. So far the dealer is resisting - at lease last time I heard.

Alan,

You just convinced me to never bring my WRX to that dealer for an oil change. :eek: I was going to get my first oil change there next week while I got the factory alarm sensitivity adjusted. I'll keep on doing my own oil changes.

Surprised the engine didn't seize up completely for that guy...
I guess they didn't drain it completely either :)

So did anybody lose their jobs over this one?

well yeah they are bad...
i have been hesitant to say anything in the dealer fourm, as the company i work for does cross promotions with them

lets see if i can get a partial list

me: couldn't find/fix visably cracked pitch mount on svx (told me that this terrible thud was rocks rattleing on top of transmission)
when i "ordered" my rs it NEVER came. i finnaly gave up and just chose one (all though hey did give me a good price)

Jeffg's car had serious break issues (as in car no stop) they failed to fix

sardonic simmilar ordering proublems (cept he had no car all durring wait)

they probbaly have the last new yellow wrx in the country .. it has a 3k over sticker mark up on it (all the other wrx's have 1.5k)


hmm i have several free oil change coupons .. perhaps i will just forget it

The only time I even go to the dealer is to buy oil filters.

Anything you can do yourself...do yourself.

Next thing you know they'll tell you something like you remote starter malfunctioned and your car is wrecked.:mad: :rolleyes: ;)

Tats.

Some mechanics are evil to the bone. Saw this one guy on TV who didnt know he was being filmed spray dirty oil in key places under the car. Then he took "the customer" (undercover guy) to have a look and said "oh you need this and that fixed." Real sad.

Everytime I get my oil changed, its at a ten minute place around the corner. Its an open garage, so I stand there and watch them. Its only about $17.00 and I know what they do. I dont trust dealers and "closed" garages (garges where you have to sit in a waiting room) such as walmart, pepboys etc,

Andres

I do my oil changes my self too. Just because I am cheap and can do it myself. I am training to become a master tech and it really makes me mad how some shady mechanics are giving us all bad names. I will NEVER tell someone that they need something replaced if they don't need it. I may advise it to be replaced if it will help them out or if will fail in the near future. But if they don't need it then I won't do it. Just find a place you trust and take it there.

BEN

I've gotten warranty work done on mine at LM Subaru a couple times now and have had no problems. They replaced my 5th gear when it started grinding around 27,000 miles with absolutely no grief.

They do something I don't exactly approve of, though.....they offer to buy you a tank of gas if you bring in the SOA survey instead of sending it straight to SOA. This way, they can screen out the bad ones. So far though, no bad ones.

Otherwise, I do all my own work.

I'm going in about 9 hours from now to have my seat bolt recall done and my keyless entry diagnosed. All under warranty. Yaay.

OK, it's been about 20 hours since my last post, and all is well. My keyless entry doesn't honk at me anymore and I got my new seat bolt, all in about 20 minutes. Can't really ask for much more.

FWIW i took my legacy in for some work ...

replaced a hub and didn't do an alignment (lots of toe out)

the torqued the lugs down so much that i broke the key trying to get them off (still stuck on car)

they continue to charge 2000-3000 over sticker

just stay away
talk to the nice dealers in Seattle and enjoy a nice drive home with an extra $4000-$6000 in your pocket

if you can't trust someone to do your oil changes then at least have the common sense to keep GOOD records. It will bite you in the backside if you happen to need warranty work and they deny it on the basis you haven't maintained your vehicle.

Oh... and techs are only human and mistakes can happen. I've heard of people doing their own oil changes to and left something loose. You can bet no dealership stepped up to look after that mistake lol. If someone is going to do something to your car accidently, at least they will be the ones fixing it. I doubt many of you want to replace your short block out of your own pocket.